Archive

History,  Video

Overview of Thucydides’ Peloponnesian War Book 1

We are pleased to share this video in which Jeffrey Rusten, Cornell University, introduces the structure and themes of Thucydides’ Peloponnesian War, Book 1. Mentioned in this video: Low, Polly (editor) 2023. The Cambridge Companion to Thucydides. Cambridge, UK. Diamond, Jared. 1998. Guns, Germs, and Steel. New York. Jeffrey Rusten Jeffrey Rusten has taught at Cornell since 1988, in the Classics Dept, of which he has twice been chair, as… Read more

Visiting Scholars

Open House | Fragments of Menander and the Modern Stage, with Kyriaki Ioannidou

We were excited to welcome Kyriaki Ioannidou for an Open House entitled “Fragments of Menander and the Modern Stage” The event took place on Friday, May 12 at 11:00 a.m. EDT and was recorded. To get ready for the event, you can preview the topics that will be covered by reading this handout; use the bookmarks pane to navigate to each section: Kosmos Talk Readings and Fragments You can watch… Read more

Book Club

Book Club | May 2023: Ovid Metamorphoses

My soul is wrought to sing of forms transformed to bodies new and strange! Immortal gods inspire my heart, for ye have changed yourselves and all things you have changed! Oh lead my song in smooth and measured strains, from olden days when earth began to this completed time! Invocation, translated by Brookes More This month’s Book Club selection is taken from Ovid’s Metamorphoses. We previously read Books 12 and… Read more

Topic for Discussion

Beware of Birds in Homeric Poetry

Heroes in Homeric poetry need to make contact with gods and goddesses. They like to be reassured by them or they fear them and beg. In the following passage, Pallas Athena sends an encouraging message to Odysseus before he goes as a spy to the night ambush. She sends a heron and when Odysseus hears its cry, he prays. It’s a moving scene. When the pair [=Diomedes and Odysseus] had… Read more

Visiting Scholars

Open House | The Lexeis project: The great Greek author-lexica of the 19th century, with Jeffrey Rusten

We were excited to welcome Jeffrey Rusten, along with Ethan Della Rocca, for an Open House entitled “The Lexeis project: The great Greek author-lexica of the 19th century.” The event took place on Friday, April 28, at 11:00 a.m. EDT and was recorded. To get ready for the event, you can preview the topics that will be covered by reading this handout: The Lexeis Project Handout | Kosmos Open House… Read more